Knock-down portable shopping rack

• US 4,189,056 A
• Filed: 05/25/1978
• Issued: 02/19/1980
• Est. Priority Date: 05/25/1978
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Elmer J. Majewski
• Original Assignee: Elmer J. Majewski
• Inventors: Majewski, Elmer J.
• Primary Examiner(s): Frazier, Roy D.
• Assistant Examiner(s): Gibson, Jr., Robert W.
• Application Number:
  US05/909,440
• Time in Patent Office: 635 Days
• Field of Search: 211/181, 211/71, 211/106, 211/195, 211/198, 211/201, 211/132, 211/85, 220/19, 224/42.45 R, 224/29 R, 224/42.42 R, 224/42.42 A, 224/42.45 B, 224/29 D
• US Class Current: 211/195
• CPC Class Codes: B60R 7/02 in separate luggage compartment B60R7/005 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: B65D 7/26 with all parts hinged together
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 224/925 Carrier for grocery bag
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 224/926 Vehicle attached carrier for beverage container or bottle

Abstract

A portable rack sized to fit in the trunk of a car has a back, base, sides and several partitions forming compartments for minimizing the movement of articles placed therein while being transported in a vehicle between point of purchase and point of utilization. All connections between the wire-form or rod-form parts of the rack are hinged so that when not in use or when packaged for shipment or sale the rack can be folded into a compact flat break-down configuration.

Claims

1. A collapsible portable knock-down storage rack for minimizing movement of packages during transport which comprises:

a rod-form rectangular back having a length longer than its height;

a rod-form rectangular base having a length equal to the length of said back, and a width less than said length;

two sides;

a plurality of partitions;

said back and said base being further comprised of a perimeter formed by a rod formed into a rectangle and a plurality of equally spaced apart straight rods parallelly transversing said height of said back and said width of said base, said rods terminating at points of intersection with the perimeters of said base and said back and joined to the respective perimeters at said points;

first hinge means for connecting said base to said back comprising eye-bolt shaped rods each having a curved portion and a straight portion, said straight portion attached at its end to said base at a point on one of the longer sides of the perimeter and extending upwardly therefrom, and said curved portion enclosing the rod forming the perimeter of said back along the length thereof;

said partitions and a first one of said sides further comprising a rod-form member generally forming three sides of a square, with one corner thereof rounded in the manner of an arc of a circle having its center in approximate coincidence with the center of said square, and the free ends of said rod-form member being curved in eye-bolt fashion so as to accept an adjoining rod-form member forming the perimeter of the back or one of the straight rod-form members transversing said back;

a second of said sides formed of the same general shape of of said first sides further including a second hinge means allowing said second side to bend 180°

along an axis parallel to said back and, said second hinge means located approximately one-half of the distance from the free ends of said side to the portion of the perimeter of said side parallel to said back;

said straight portion of said first hinge means extending vertically a distance above said base so that said back may be swiveled to a position parallel said base with said partitions and sides folded therebetween; and

a means for temporarily securing each of said sides and said partitions to said base to maintain said rack in a rigid, upright position by preventing movement of said curved portions of said rod-form members around said enclosed rod-form members.

2. The article of claim 1 in which the means for temporarily securing said sides and said partitions to said base is comprised of a rod bent to form a perimeter of an elongated saddle, said saddle fitting over a portion of the respective perimeters of said sides and said partitions closest to said base, and said saddle clipping between its sides a rod parallelly transversing said base.